Uma Musume: Become a Legendary Trainer

Chapter 406 More money is needed

Everyone on the construction platform was familiar with Beiyuan, and when they noticed his arrival, they all came over to greet him.

While responding to the greeting, Kitahara still felt very strange.

When I was running that small ranch and club, I could only see people like this on very rare occasions, and I could only see them from afar, so I didn't have the chance to say hello.

Now I have been focusing on training, competitions, and various planned projects, but I have unknowingly had such close contact with these people. I have to say that the contrast is quite big.

But after thinking about it, I soon felt relieved. Apart from being able to predict some things, I didn't have any other special abilities. It can be said that I have come to where I am today mostly due to my own efforts.

Coming to the construction site this time is also part of our ongoing efforts.

Going overseas to compete was something Kitahara had considered before coming to Central Tresen College.

In this timeline, the difference between the Japanese and overseas arenas has not yet reached the level it will later, but the difference is not something that can be completely ignored.

Initially, without sufficient experience, equipment and professionals, Kitahara could only find ways to collect various types of information and analyze the data on his own.

With experience in running a ranch, I have no problem doing basic analysis.

Later, with the advent of the new brilliance, progress in this regard became smoother.

Compared to race walking, this horse girl's talent is basically focused on technology, so Kitahara has to consult her for a lot of professional knowledge.

Now that it has developed in the form of a club, there is already a team that can conduct research in this area. The efficiency and output results are naturally incomparable to the past.

The outputs include research on grasslands.

This is also Beiyuan’s main task for this on-site investigation.

The place where Yayoi Akikawa was driving the excavator was exactly the lawn of the old campus.

So after exchanging pleasantries and confirming some other issues about construction plans, funding chain, etc., Kitahara then talked about the site issue when asked by everyone.

"In the plan I submitted, I plan to design it according to the regular stadium."

Pointing to the construction site in front of him, Kitahara explained: "That is, the outer circle is the grass track, and the inner circle is the dirt track.

“The dirt track is much easier to design, but the problem is on the grass track.

"In theory, if the technology is up to standard, artificial turf would be more cost-effective.

"Based on the relevant data, our club's glory has already reached a preliminary conclusion.

"The ideal height of the turf is between 25mm and 50mm.

“This height range can provide good track surface elasticity without affecting the performance of the horse racers.

“It also ensures that the turf is not easily deformed or damaged after being frequently stepped on.

“Especially considering the strength of the racing ladies’ feet, the latter point is crucial.

"In terms of lawn density, sand-free density... oh, it means lawns that do not need to be filled with fine sand or rubber particles to fix the grass.

"The best lawn density, that is, the number of grass fibers per unit area, is 21000.

“Correspondingly, the density of the monofilament sand-filled lawn is 10500.

“If the lawn can be laid according to this standard, both the ideal height and density will be easier to lay because artificial materials are easier to control.

“Moreover, artificial materials are much more wear-resistant and water-permeable than natural lawns, and the cost is also very low, requiring much fewer resources from laying to maintenance.

“That’s why I say it’s a great value for money.”

After explaining to this stage, seeing that everyone around him seemed to understand, Kitahara paused. Just as he was about to continue, Kurokawa Masato suddenly raised his hand.

"It sounds like this investment should be the most suitable option, both in terms of cost and return."

As a businessman, Kurokawa Masato's focus was naturally on costs and benefits, but he also took into account Kitahara's assumptions.

"But according to what you said, Kitahara, although this situation is rational, it seems...not likely to be realized for the time being?"

People like Satomi Haruki beside Kurokawa Masato are all sponsors of this project and a series of subsequent projects.

Since they had the same identity, although they did not ask any questions, their expressions clearly showed that they had the same opinion as Kurokawa Masato.

On the other side, Maruzenski, who had gone to change into work clothes earlier, also came over with Jungawa Tezuna. Next to them were horse girls such as Lifar and Shiyan.

Compared to cost, their attention is on the condition of the lawn.

"Artificial turf...There are some related studies in Europe, but..."

After thinking for a while, Lifar frowned slightly, "In my impression, this kind of venue has some flaws, so it has not really been implemented."

As she expressed her opinion, she looked at the oath representing the American Teresen College.

“There’s very little grass in America.”

Just like the image we saw before, Shi Yan was still relatively taciturn, "I don't really understand."

Not getting an answer, Lifar nodded slightly and looked at Kitahara like Kurokawa Masato and the others.

“It’s a safety issue.”

Kitahara did not keep the audience in suspense and said directly: "With current technology, artificial turf can actually be used in football, baseball and other sports that also require turf.

“But Umamusume is different from humans.

“Currently, the mature artificial turf materials on the market are mainly PP and PE…that is, polypropylene and polyethylene.

“Sand-free lawns are generally made of PP and PE, while sand-filled lawns are made of PE.

"These materials have good wear resistance, softness and weather resistance, and are actually superior to natural turf in this aspect alone.

"The problem is that when the weather is too hot, some materials, such as rubber particles, will produce unpleasant odors due to the high temperature, that is, melting and causing chemical volatile gases.

“The effect of this smell and gas on humans is not so bad, but the sense of smell of horse girls is much better than that of humans.

“In the short term, running on this track will not have a big impact in theory.

“But in the long term, it’s hard to say.”

Kitahara spread his hands helplessly, "Because this is an exploratory study, we don't have enough horse girls to test it yet, so we don't have any actual data."

The arrangement to come to the construction site of the old campus was originally in the schedule. Even if I don’t come today, I will come later.

It’s just that this time, Akikawa Yayoi mentioned it, so Kitahara arrived a little earlier.

Once he arrives at the scene, he will inevitably meet investors from all sides. Taking this into consideration, what Kitahara is saying now is actually something he has prepared long ago.

The difference between the Japanese and European arenas is actually not an isolated case. There are more or less some differences between the arenas in various countries and regions.

If you want the racegoers to have a smooth race, it would be best to make the field as uniform as possible. Artificial turf, which is cost-effective, can meet this requirement.

The prerequisite is to solve the technical problems, which is the security that Kitahara talked about.

To achieve this, we must ultimately increase investment in research.

In other words, you have to pay more.

Of course, it is definitely inappropriate to talk about money directly, so Kitahara’s idea is to list the relevant situations and let the investor "choose for themselves."

He has written corresponding plans for these in the plan. However, face-to-face communication is also a necessary environment during business negotiations.

Many decisions are often made through face-to-face communication.

Especially with him, a trainer who currently has a good reputation, speaking out in person and explaining the details of the plan, it will be easier to advance some ideas.

After all, if investors only look at the plan, they may not carefully look at the various professional data in the attachments.

Or even if they have read it, they may not be able to understand it because they are not experts in this field.

The leaders of large enterprises like this usually let their professionals evaluate and analyze the work and then come to a conclusion, and they nod or shake their heads based on the conclusion.

However, the stance taken by those professionals may not be the same as Kitahara's.

The current attitude of investors such as Masato Kurokawa seems to illustrate this point.

"It sounds like artificial turf would be a better option if the safety issue can be resolved..."

After exchanging glances with the people around him, especially those behind him, it was still Kurokawa Masato who spoke first, "I mean, in terms of cost.

“Of course, the competition is ultimately for the horse girls, so I can only draw conclusions after all the test data in this regard is complete.

"There is still quite a while before the campus project reaches the stadium and is paved. Beiyuan, should there be no problem on your side?"

Masato Kurokawa and his companions did not come alone, but were accompanied by assistants and secretaries.

When I glanced back just now, I saw Masato Kurokawa making eye contact with his assistant.

His assistant and other accompanying members had been keeping records from the beginning, occasionally writing something down in the notebooks they carried with them.

"As for the data, I think I can provide some assistance."

It was not Kitahara who responded to Kurokawa Masato, but Lifar, “Didn’t Kitahara just say that there aren’t enough Uma Musume for testing?

“It just so happens that the opening of this college was originally intended for international exchange.

“Yesen College is also considering arranging for some students to come to Japan for exchange studies.

"Then we can ask Kitahara to take care of these students, and we can also confirm the adaptability of horse girls from different countries on artificial grass tracks."

Kitahara was somewhat surprised by what Lifar said.

When it comes to turf data, we did want to see if we could arouse the interest of horse racing girls from other countries.

But considering that the competitions in those regions of the UK have been developed for a longer time, perhaps this kind of research has already been done there. Kitahara didn't hold out much hope, so he was a little surprised at this moment.

However, since Lifar brought it up on his own initiative, there was no reason to refuse, so Kitahara quickly agreed.

"No problem. I will fully cooperate with you regarding international exchanges."

After affirming this, he went on to talk about the stadium design.

Since artificial turf currently has certain limitations and there is the possibility of subsequent development, the turf laid in the old campus will still be natural turf for the time being.

Compared with Japan's existing stadiums, the plan proposed by Kitahara is more based on Europe and the United States, and has been modified to make the soil and grass seeds more suitable for Japan's conditions.

“As for soil, the roadbed needs to be deepened and renovated, with loam and sandy soil structure and five-storey construction, which will ensure better drainage.

"In terms of grass seeds, the current plan is to select cool-season perennial ryegrass, lawn-type tall fescue and meadow bluegrass, and warm-season bermudagrass and pennisetum, and sow the two types of grass seeds in a mixed manner.

“This type of planting can ensure that there is enough grass on the track in winter, spring, summer and autumn, and prevent the track conditions from changing too much due to the seasons.

“For other procedures, such as regular weeding, aeration, pruning, rolling, burning, watering, etc., I also adjusted the existing track maintenance program in Japan according to the grass species.

"This is all included in the appendix of the plan. You should have seen it before. If you have any questions, I can answer them."

This was also something Kitahara didn't expect an answer to.

It’s not that I think someone like Kurokawa Masato is too lazy to read the project attachments.

But even though the business was small before, he had been in a similar position and knew that if he wanted to coordinate the overall situation of a company, it would often be difficult to have the energy to confirm all the details.

As Kitahara expected, all of these investors confirmed with their assistants and secretaries before raising questions.

These issues do not involve any professional technology, but basically involve specific resource mobilization, manpower arrangements, etc.

Kitahara, who has experience, knows very well that this kind of information is difficult to communicate through paper-based communication such as planning, and can often only be confirmed through face-to-face communication.

It’s not that the technical aspect is completely ignored, but this meeting is just the beginning of the cooperation, and there will inevitably be a lot of meetings and discussions afterwards, including meetings specifically for technical personnel from all parties to meet.

The professional skills that Kitahara knows are actually very limited, so he can only entrust this aspect to Shining Glory and others.

There are quite a lot of things involved in the establishment of the university department of Trasen College. After confirming the plan for the stadium, there are also school buildings, cafeterias, office buildings, etc.

Although there were a lot of things to do, the work efficiency of everyone present was quite high and the work was basically completed before noon.

Horse girls like Akikawa Yayoi and Lifar still have a lot of things to deal with and have to stay here.

Masato Kurokawa and others had to return to their busy work.

Kitahara had basically completed his work at the old campus, and he and Maruzenski saw Kurokawa Masato and the others off.

"By the way, Kitahara."

When they arrived at the parking lot and were about to get in the car, Kurokawa Masato suddenly stopped and looked at Kitahara, his expression becoming a little cautious.

“I heard about the riot at Tresen College this morning from Chairman Akikawa and his assistant.

“With the chairman here, I don’t have to worry too much about the safety of the academy.

“But after thinking about it, I think this riot is probably caused by the increasing popularity of Oguruma and the others.

“Maybe some of these reporters are still planning to do something, and there might be other bad reporters as well.

"Do you have any corresponding plan in this regard? For example, a plan for follow-up training.

“Don’t forget, in a month, it will be this year’s Arima Memorial.

"Do you need help? I can still send some people over here."

(End of this chapter)